Crypto companies will not receive any additional millions in aid

The finance director’s proposal for a sovereign wealth fund under Zug leadership was rejected by the governing council.

The canton of Zug will not support blockchain startups beyond the loans granted by the Confederation and the cantons. As the "Sonntagszeitung" reports, finance director Heinz Tännler came up with this idea for additional help at the government council meeting last Tuesday.

He proposed setting up a foundation within the framework of a sovereign wealth fund, which could provide convertible loans to particularly promising start-ups. If successful, they could have been converted into shares, which would have benefited the public purse financially.

Canton, Confederation and private persons
According to an earlier article in the "Sonntagszeitung", the foundation would have had a volume of around CHF 100 million. The Canton and the City of Zug would have contributed between CHF 20 and 30 million due to their central importance in the crypto-start-up scene, while the federal government would have contributed CHF 10 to 15 million, with the rest of the money coming from private persons.

The managers of startups exchange ideas in coworking spaces,
such as here in Crypto Valley Labs in the city of Zug

Zug's finance director, Tännler, fears that many of the start-ups in the fields of Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies will fall through the meshes of the standard aid networks set up in connection with the Corona crisis.

The Confederation, together with the cantons, has earmarked CHF154 million for this – too little from Tännler's point of view.